Life science research and manufacturing is one of the four target sectors of the Lehigh Valley economy, along with high performance manufacturing, high value business services, and food and beverage processing.

The Lehigh Valley has been featured in a 24-page feature in American Way, the in-flight magazine of American Airlines, the largest airline in the world. Below is a portion of a story called “Global Impact,” which highlights the various regions, companies and economic trends of the Lehigh Valley. This particular excerpt focuses on region’s life sciences sector. The full story and the rest of the Spotlight Lehigh Valley feature can be found online here.

The region’s manufacturing prowess also extends into the health and life sciences, where its capabilities have made it a location of choice for those in the medical device industry.

These include B. Braun Medical, part of Germany’s B. Braun Melsungen, the 10th largest medical and pharmaceutical device manufacturer in the world. Headquartered in Bethlehem, it also operates one of its primary U.S. manufacturing facilities in Allentown, cumulatively employing more than 2,000 people in the Valley, from where it oversees a business that provides products in infusion therapy and pain management all across the country.

The presence of Olympus also speaks to the region’s international appeal, but that’s not to say there aren’t also a number of locally grown success stories. Foremost among these could be OraSure Technologies, which can trace its history here to 1987, and is now a leader in the development and production of point-of care diagnostic devices.

In particular, it became known for producing the first in-home oral fluid test for HIV, later doing the same for Ebola, while it was awarded government funding in 2016 to advance its rapid Zika tests. Today, its products are sold worldwide, helping to detect and diagnose critical medical conditions discreetly and efficiently wherever they are taken.

“Our rapid, point-of-care tests are very portable, and most of them work with an oral specimen, which enables populations to have access to diagnostic test results that they might not otherwise have,” says president and CEO Douglas Michels.

Visit here to read the rest of this story and to download the rest of the Spotlight Lehigh Valley feature in American Way.